#THE FATAL ACCIDENTS ACT, 1855 
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##ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS 
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Preamble 

SECTIONS 

1.  Short title and extent. 
1A. Suit for compensation to the family of a person for loss occasioned to it by his death by 
actionable wrong.
2. Not more than one suit to be brought.
Claim for loss to estate may be added. 
3.  Plaintiff shall deliver particulars, etc. 
4.  Interpretation-clause. 


 
#THE FATAL ACCIDENTS ACT, 1855

#ACT NO. 13 OF 1855 [^1]

[27th March, 1855.] 

An  Act  to  provide  compensation  to  families  for  loss  occasioned  by  the  death  of  a  person 
caused by actionable wrong. 

**Preamble.**—WHEREAS no action or suit is now maintainable in any Court against a person who, by 
his wrongful act, neglect or default, may have caused the death of another person and it is often-times 
right and expedient that the wrong-doer in such case should be answerable in damages for the injury so 
caused by him. It is enacted as follows:— 

1. **Short title and extent.**—(1) This Act may be called the Fatal Accidents Act, 1855. 
(2) It extends to the whole of India.

1A. **Suit for compensation to the family of a person for loss occasioned to it by his death by 
actionable  wrong.**—Whenever  the  death  of  a  person  shall  be  caused  by  wrongful  act,  neglect  or 
default,  and  the  act,  neglect  or  default  is  such  as  would  (if  death  had  not  ensured)  have  entitled  the 
party injured to maintain an action and recover damages in respect thereof, the party who would have 
been liable if death had not ensued shall be liable to an action or suit for damages, notwithstanding the 
death of the person injured, and although the death shall have been caused under such circumstances as 
amount in law to felony or other crime. 

Every such action or suit shall be for the benefit of the wife, husband, parent and child, if any, 
of the person whose death shall have been so caused, and shall be brought by and in the name of the 
executor, administrator or representative of the person deceased; 

and in every such action the Court may give such damages as it may th ink proportioned to 
the  loss  resulting  from  such  death  to  the  parties  respectively,  for  whom  and  for  whose  benefit 
such  action  shall  be  brought;  and  the  amount  so  recovered,  after  deducting  all  costs  and 
expenses,  including  the  costs  not  recovered  from  the  defendant,  shall  be  divided  amongst  the 
before-mentioned parties, or any of them, a such shares as the Court by its judgment or decree 
shall direct. 

2. **Not more than one suit to be brought.**—Provided always that not more than one action or suit 
shall be brought for, and in respect of the same subject-matter of complaint: 

**Claim for loss to estate may be added.**—Provided that, in any such action or suit, the executor 
administrator or representative of the deceased may insert a claim for and recover any pecuniary loss 
to the estate of the deceased occasioned by such wrongful act, neglect or default, which sum, when 
recovered, shall be deemed part of the assets of the estate of the deceased. 

3. **Plaintiff  shall  deliver  particulars,  etc.**—The plaint in any such action or suit shall give a 
full particular of the person or persons for whom, or on whose behalf, such action or suit shall be 
brought,  and  of  the  nature  of  the  claim  in  respect  of  which  damages  shall  be  sought  to  be 
recovered. 

4. **Interpretation-clause.**—The following words and expressions are intended to have the meanings 
hereby assigned to them respectively, so far as such meanings are not excluded by the context or by the 
nature  of  the  subject-matter;  that  is  to  say the  word  “person”,  shall  apply  to  bodies  politic  and 
corporate;  and  the  word  "parent"  shall  include  father  and  mother and  grand-father  and  grand-mother; 
and the word "child" shall include son and daughter and grand-son and grand-daughter and step-son and 
step-daughter.


[^1]. The Act has been extended to Laccadive, Minicoy and Amindivi Islands by Reg. 8 of 1965, s. 3 and Sch., and to the Union 
territory of Pondicherry by Act 26 of 1968, s. 3 and Sch.